Nov. 17 Muscat to Dibba, UAE

Nov. 17 Muscat to Dibba, UEA




We hastily packed the 4-wheel drive Pajero and left for Oman’s Musandam Peninsula, where we had never been before. It being the ‘Id, there were no reservations available on line, but we decided to just go and look for a place to stay when we got there, and to sleep in the car if no better alternative appeared.



We headed up the coastal road past the airport, Sib, Burka, and Sohar, passing the turnoff to Dubai through Hatta about half an hour past Sohar. Just before the mountains blocked our passage north, we crossed into the UAE at Khatamat Malalah with relatively little wait or hassle. Others were coming the other way into Oman and had to pay $55 each for their Oman visa.



When we reached Fujaira on the coast, we recognized our old favorite Persian restaurant on the corner of the Cornish Road, but spent 20 minutes getting around to it due to ‘Id traffic. It was unfortunately a big disappointment, as the food had deteriorated a great deal. And it took about an hour to get out of the parking lot and heading North toward Musandam! The traffic was unreal, and we crawled along for a couple of hours as it got dark, looking for any hotel along the way. The hotel in Fujaira that we had stayed in 18years ago was full when we drove in, and they did not know any hotel not yet booked. A small apartment hotel we found was booked for the next two nights. We reached the outskirts of Dibba by 8:00 pm, but found all the hotels full except the Meridien, which offered me a special rate of $500 for the night, which I declined with regret. This area is a high-rent area for upscale tourists.



We noticed that people were all camping on both sides of the road, and that some areas were designated for “Families Camping Only”. No wonder everyone camps when the hotels were so expensive! We passed through Dibba and a large cement plant on the outskirts without finding either a hotel or a clear road marked to Musandam, and were getting quite tired. We were looking for a quiet place to park the car and sleep, where we would not be bothered all night by car headlights and noise. Finally we pulled onto a dirt track leading toward a small mountain where we could only see a few house lights, passed the houses, when two women and an old man came out to see who was in their neighborhood. We explained that we were looking for a quiet wadi to sleep in and they pointed out a track they said went to their own quiet wadi. Sure enough, it lead to a dead end, and there was no traffic, so we spent all night without any noise. Not the best sleep though as we had forgotten our Excedrin PM!